Maneha 250 Has Too Many Ride Options

It's official:  The venerable Maneha 250 has too many ride and route options.  Thirty-two that we've described and growing.  Here's how they add up.  It's a bit too much.

Twelve Road Route Offerings

• Team Two Day Loaded:  Riding with your crew on Saturday and Sunday.  And you're carrying all your camping gear.  A tough ride that we promise will offer you big rewards.  Think The Long Riders.
• Team Saturday Loaded:  Roll with your crew up to NH for a great dinner and a really good night's sleep.  You've got all your gear so you can experiment with your packing ideas.  Think Lazy Cowgirls.
• Team Sunday Loaded:  Join us on Saturday evening for a fantastic meal with beer, farm animals, and friends.  You won't be too wiped out from riding so it'll be extra fun.  Ride with your crew home on Sunday -- carrying your camping gear with you.  Think Dinosaur Jr.
• Team Two Day Superfly:  Riding with your crew a lot faster than loaded -- on Saturday and Sunday.  OBC brings all your overnight gear to the camp for you.  Think Hüsker Dü.
• Team Saturday Superfly:  Pressed for time but want a ride to remember?  This is it.  You still get Saturday evening with food, drink, and camping but you'll be home by noon on Sunday.    Think Zen Guerrilla.
• Team Sunday Superfly:  This is the fastest route of all.  And, riding with a team will make it even faster.  Fastest is still long.  Saturday dinner, drinks, and camping included.  Connect with nature and riders before burning up the ride.  Think Bullitt.
• Indy Two Day Loaded:  Riding solo, at your own pace, on Saturday and Sunday.  Carry all your camping gear so you're as self-sufficient as possible.  Think Kwai Chang Caine.
• Indy Saturday Loaded: A good chance to test out and experiment with your multi-day touring setup.  A long day of riding culminates with setting up camp and eating late into the evening with co-riders.  Sounds pretty good to us.  Think Billie Holiday.
• Indy Sunday Loaded:  This is the shortest loaded touring route for Maneha.  This ride is ideal for anyone starting out with touring.  And for those pressed for time.  Camp with us Saturday night and ride home with a sense of accomplishment.  Think Jackie Mittoo.
• Indy Two Day Superfly:  This is the most popular road route option.  Two hilly days on some wild roads.  Lots of food, beer, and scenery along the way.  Think Superchunk.
• Indy Saturday Superfly:  Roll the 125 hilly miles up to camp.  Food and beer always taste way better after a long day in the saddle.  And sleeping under the stars.  Think Sleater-Kinney.
• Indy Sunday Superfly: As a solo rider, this is the fastest route of all.  If you've got a time crunch or 125 miles is a big ask at this time of year, this is the best route.  Camp with us on Saturday, too, and you'll remember this weekend fondly for many years to come.  Think Bullet Lavolta.

Twelve Mixed-Terrain Route Offerings

• Team Two Day Loaded:  Riding with your offroad crew on Saturday and Sunday.  And you're carrying all your camping gear.  Very Tour Divide feel.  Think Ernest Shackleton.
• Team Saturday Loaded:  Roll with your crew up to NH for a great dinner and a really good night's sleep after a very long day on the trails.  You've got all your gear so you can experiment with your packing ideas.  Think Bettie Serveert.
• Team Sunday Loaded:  Join us on Saturday evening for a fantastic meal with beer, farm animals, and friends.  You won't be too wiped out from riding so it'll be extra fun.  Ride with your crew home on Sunday -- carrying your camping gear with you.  Think Swervedriver.
• Team Two Day Superfly:  Riding with your crew in the woods a lot faster than loaded -- on Saturday and Sunday.  OBC brings all your overnight gear to the camp for you.  Think Iggy Pop And The Stooges.
• Team Saturday Superfly:  Pressed for time but want to ride in the woods all day?  This is that ride.  You still get Saturday evening with food, drink, and camping but you'll be home by noon on Sunday.    Think Zen Guerrilla.
• Team Sunday Superfly:  Join everyone for Dinner and drinks on Saturday evening -- we shuttle you up to the farm -- have a good night's sleep in your tent -- that OBC transports -- and have an awesome ride home.  It's all downhill from NH.  Not really but less climbing than Saturday's Ride.  Think Sleater-Kinney.
• Indy Two Day Loaded:  Riding solo, at your own pace, on Saturday and Sunday.  Carry all your camping gear so you're as self-sufficient as possible.  You're in the woods and can enjoy the peace.  Commune with nature.  Think Kwai Chang Caine.
• Indy Saturday Loaded:  If the season is still early for you and you don't have the miles you want in your legs, but still want to be bikepacking like OBC does, this option is a good balance of pushing safely.  Think Sam Bell.
• Indy Sunday Loaded:  Less climbing and home gets closer with every mile.  This is the easiest route psychologically.  It's not easy, just easier.  Bikepacking is never easy.  Think Mark Lanegan.
• Indy Two Day Superfly:  This is the most popular option.  Immersive mixed-terrain:  A week's worth of trails in two days.  A week's worth of food and drink, too.  Think Yojimbo.
• Indy Saturday Superfly:  If you want to push yourself hard and then eat, drink, and sleep hard, this could be the ideal route option.   Think PJ Harvey. 
• Indy Sunday Superfly:  This is the fastest mixed-terrain route option.  If you're pressed for time or feel you might be a bit over your head, Superfly Sunday is the ideal option.  Think Bad Brains. 

Eight Combination Rides:  Mixed and Road Together

Ride some road and some mixed terrain.  This makes the effort a bit easier but provides you the best of both worlds:  Awesome riding with a bit more time for eating, resting, and communing.

Choosing the right tire may be the second toughest decision you have to make.  Choosing one of the ride options is way more difficult.  We want to do them all!

• Team Mixed Saturday & Road Sunday Loaded:  Think Refused.
• Team Road Saturday & Mixed Sunday Loaded:  Think Fugazi.
• Team Mixed Saturday & Road Sunday Superfly:  Think Time Bandits.
• Team Road Saturday & Mixed Sunday Superfly:  Think Sly And The Family Stone.
• Indy Mixed Saturday & Road Sunday Loaded:  Think Wages Of Fear.
• Indy Road Saturday & Mixed Sunday Loaded:  Think Touch Of Evil.
• Indy Mixed Saturday & Road Sunday Superfly:  Think Fist Full Of Dollars.
• Indy Road Saturday & Mixed Sunday Suerfly:  Think Cool Hand Luke.

We told you it was too many options.  Roll the dice, pick one, and let's get to riding!  You can't go wrong no matter which you choose.  The only mistake is not choosing.

Maneha has chosen you.

Camping Isn’t For You?

For riders who really want to ride the Maneha 250 but don’t want to camp out, OBC is offering transportation to and from two beautiful local inns for Saturday night, May 20th.  Riders will ride up on Saturday and arrive at Mayfair Farm to enjoy an amazing farm to table dinner and the chance to hang with fellow riders around the campfire.  At 9:30pm, the OBC shuttle will bring you to one of the designated inns so you can sleep soundly under a roof.  On Sunday morning, the OBC shuttle will pick you up at 5:00am to return you to Mayfair Farm for the pre-ride breakfast feast with views of Mt. Monadnock before you depart on your return journey.

Please contact either of the inns below to make your reservations directly:

The Harrisville Inn

2 miles away from Mayfair Farm

Rooms start at $115

The Harrisville Inn, an antique cape was built by Persia Beal in 1842 and has served as a farm and a caretaker’s home for the nearby Aldworth Mansion, prior to becoming an inn.  The property lies just a short walk to Harrisville center in the midst of the spectacular beauty of the Monadnock Region.

The Hancock Inn

9.9 miles away from Mayfair Farm

Rooms start at $235

The Hancock Inn is the oldest inn in New Hampshire, and one of the oldest bed and breakfasts in New England. When it began offering accommodations and meals to travelers in 1789, the Revolutionary War had been over for just six years and George Washington was in the first year of his presidency.

Spot Trackers

For certain OBC events, we require that riders or teams use a Spot Tracker.  The SPOT device provides OBC the ability to keep track of your progress through satellite technology.  So even when your cell phone has no bars, we can see just where you are.  This is important so that our team can provide you with the best support and most importantly, find you if you get in trouble.  Several of our annual events traverse through areas with little to no cell service, making safety a key issue while supporting our riders.  In the event of an emergency, with one push of a button, any rider can alert the OBC team as well as local authorities that they are in need of emergency medical help.

The Spot technology also provides public tracking so your friends and family can follow your progress on your ride.  Our Spot-tracked rides are displayed on a website given out only to those who you choose to share it with, protecting our rider’s privacy while providing loved ones with piece of mind on some of our more rural and challenging rides.

Don’t have a Spot?  Don’t worry, OBC can rent you a Spot Tracker for any of our events.

Spot-tracked rides sound like just what you are looking for on your next riding adventure?  Check out our Maneha 250 and Dusk to Dawn rides.

What Is A Manehan Road?

The Maneha 250 is known for its diverse mix of every type of terrain that New Hampshire and Massachusetts have to offer.

New for 2017 we've added a Manehan Road Ride.  What is this?  It's not what you think.

"A Manehan Road any road or track that a reasonably seasoned road rider on a road bike with 28c tires could reasonably ride."

It's all very reasonable. 

However, aside from the obvious pavement you've probably seen before, the 2017 Manehan Road Ride offers surfaces including:

• A fair amount of really nice dirt roads -- the kind that New Hampshire spoon feeds riders every day. 
• Some dirt tracks that motorized vehicles are not allowed on but are very rideable and quiet.
• Some doubletrack that gets barely used.
• A few throughways that get a tad technical -- but very brief.
• Pineneedle lined paths that call out to be ridden.
• Really rough paved roads that are barely used by any vehicles.  Potholes for all!

If you're a seasoned road rider and are rolling with 25c tires or, better yet, 28c tires, you'll most likely make it through the 125 mile route without incident.  Some of our favorite rides have been on these types of back roads and tracks that see little use.  The right tires on your favorite road bike provide the makings of the Ride Of The Season.

The Road Ride is 250 miles round trip, just like the mixed-terrain route.  The single day options are about 125 miles each.  It's all the fun of the mixed-terrain route in less time, which means more time for food, beer, and channeling Doctor Dolittle at the farm.

Choose the Maneha Mixed or the Manehan Road Ride.  They're both well worth the time.  And really, you don't have to choose because you can mix and match the routes.  Do the Mixed on the way up; do the Road Ride on the way home.  Or vice versa.  There is no wrong answer -- except for not joining us for the 2017 Maneha 250.

Be forewarned, this could be the final running of the Maneha 250.  If you miss it this year you may have missed it forever.

Diverged Ride Rain Delay

It was bound to happen at some point.  After five awesome years of the Diverged Ride, nature has decided to share lots of rain yesterday and today. 

For that reason, we've rescheduled the ride to Saturday, May 6.  We're actually offering three options as alternatives:

1. Ride with us on Saturday, May 6
2. Ride with us on the Digression Ride -- we'll transfer your entry from Diverged to Digression
3. We can provide you a refund if you're unable to ride with us on April 29 or May 6.  However, your entry fee is going to worthy causes that can still use all of our help, if you're willing to let it ride.  So far we've generated just over $2,000 in entry fees and t-shirt sales -- 100% of which are going to three advocacy and conservation groups.  We'll post details of this soon.

While it is disappointing that we can't ride tomorrow, it reinforces the frailness of singletrack and the respect that dame nature deserves.  Rain also reminds us of our responsibility to care for the trails and ensure they're here for generations to come.  The whole point of Diverged and Digression is to raise funds to help protect the earth, while having a blast on our favorite dirt. 

Diverged is a mix of trail celebration and trail protection. 

So, of course, we won't be riding the trails on Saturday because they'll still be very wet.

We know this is an inconvenience.  In spite of this, we hope you'll join us because this year's Diverged offers quite a route.  For example, the long route -- 46 miles -- is 93% within the confines of Lexington and Waltham.  And not all the trails you expect, we hope.

If you're not able to join us on May 6, we invite you to transfer your Diverged registration to the Digression Ride.

Email us with any questions or to transfer your registration to Digression.  Otherwise we hope to see you on May 6!